V4C57: Meeting with the Guardians

Right away, the Ascendant slammed down a few banners behind her, covering them in ice, toxins and surrounding them with runes just to ensure that if there was a restriction to the amount of energy that could be separated by the Purifier’s Seal, or if it would be more difficult in some way to separate them, that she gave the controlled otherworldly demon the toughest time possible.

While focusing on the Purifier’s Seal, Jian Hongchao did not appear to be capable of doing anything else, although that could have a number of reasons behind it. Regardless, so long as her actions prevented the otherworldly demon from attempting to run in and endanger herself against her own will, that would be better than doing nothing at all, so even if the banner and all of the toxins were dispersed in one go, it would still be fine if she could finish the battle in time, or if she didn’t somehow increase the speed at which she split apart objects.

Then, she focused her attention on the sixth realm cultivator, who had gotten closer to her and brought out a large spear that emitted a soft light that wrapped around him and prevented some of the noxious vapours that hovered in the air from getting near him, although it was hardly able to stop all of them. He was channelling his energy into the blood-red spear, causing that colour to deepen, but he was clearly ready to attack the moment that she tried to do so.

With his energy and cultivation realm, taking him out in one hit would be difficult, but if there was one thing that could be definitively said about Wei Yi, it would be that she did not give up easily.

Neither did she ignore the lessons that the world contained, for she was always on the lookout for methods to strengthen herself or improve her techniques in some way. After fighting with a figure that mimicked her Obliteration energy, she had naturally noted how it went about attacking her, and now replicated parts of the method as she similarly gathered energy within her hands.

For a few moments, the two of them stared one another down. Behind her, Jian Hongchao thrust out the Purifier’s Seal again, with the azure light spreading out and grabbing onto the banner and onto much of the surrounding energy, this time taking far longer to tighten, whereas there appeared to be nothing approaching the sixth realm cultivator, meaning that he either came down alone or that his allies were hiding away and waiting for some outcome in the fight between them, whether it was a conclusion or merely a part of it.

Then, at the same time but without any planning for it in advance, they both struck out, with the sixth realm cultivator thrusting his spear out whereas she forced her hands together as a vast orb of Obliteration energy manifested within them.

Just as the spear would have hit her, it was met with a blast of blackened crimson that engulfed it, the man wielding it, and most of the doorway that had been widened during his entry. It was forced to cease its movement, then was pushed back as a quiet surge of cosmic light prodded at the spear, attempting to make its way through the red light around it and enter the artefact channels as to draw this battle to a quick conclusion.

It did not penetrate the spear right away, giving the figure the chance to draw his weapon back and attempt to strike again with the energy that remained within his body and weapon, and yet he was met with another sudden burst of blackened crimson. The time before, it had been fired with the intent to stop his spear and thus it was mainly dispersed by the point of the spear, but this time there was nothing to stop it from blasting directly into him, throwing him back into the steps of the staircase, tearing into the red barrier formed by the spear and making way for the strand of cosmic light to make its way into the weapon. That alone would have been sufficient to stun the man, who did not appear to be expecting this level of resistance from her, but then another blast followed with even more power.

‘When I had been merely observing it, I hadn’t realised just how effective this could be… Each time the Obliteration beam is utilised, it is possible to reinforce and amplify it through the remnant energies of the previous beam, although the general cost of each beam is also increased, as one might expect…’ Wei Yi analysed as she manifested enough power to fire out a fourth blast.

Her current execution of the technique would have been sufficient to create five such repeated beams, but as she was able to view the situation behind her, she knew that Jian Hongchao was already close to dismantling the banner and energy that covered it. If she lingered for a moment longer, then the otherworldly demon would have been able to move onto something else, whether that would be making use of the Purifier’s Seal on her or on attacking Wei Yi with some kind of technique that would almost certainly be insufficient to harm her.

The final two blasts of energy threw the sixth realm cultivator back into the staircase, then broke him through it as much of his protective barrier was torn apart and his flesh was sundered, with a few of his bones certainly suffering from the barrage of energy.

Normally, that would have been enough to down someone, but as she had learned both with the Great Families and some other frustrating factions, only if she was able to eliminate someone in one go was she able to guarantee that they wouldn’t be able to stand right back up. In this case, he did not rise, but his body was suddenly covered in a dense sphere of blood, which surged around him and completely blocked out the remnants of her Obliteration energy, with a large quantity of it then exploding out and colliding into the minimal defences that she had set up the moment that the blood storm did occur.

It pushed her back by a couple steps, with her stopping only an inch away from the banner that quickly fell apart into a mist of energy, some of which Wei Yi was able to collect but much of it scattered.

“Blood ser-” the man began, forcing the Ascendant to act immediately.

She didn’t know how the commands that he provided functioned, with the most important aspect to her at the moment being whether a vocal command was required and whether it needed to be heard by Jian Hongchao to take effect, so she couldn’t simply block out the sound and hope for the best. To guarantee the highest chances of success, she had to prevent the words from being spoken, so she poured her energy into a leap up, slamming her fist into the ceiling.

At the fifth realm of physique cultivation, merged with the power of the fifth realm of incredibly powerful planar energy, not to mention the enhancement of her bloodline power, a punch at a surface that was usually sufficient for the first and second realm to live within it without damaging the floors simply by walking, but not above, instantly shattered the ceiling. A wave of force spread out, crushing the ceiling and throwing a vast quantity of stone and wood that mixed together towards the sphere of blood that remained, impacting it with enough force to simply extinguish the sound that may have emerged from it, whether or not the words were spoken despite all of the force that had likely hit the man beneath the sphere.

So far as she was able to tell, she successfully prevented the instruction from being given, but that came at the cost of the stability of the structure disappearing in a single go. The walls on the floor she was at cracked and broke, and with them out of the way, there was little to stop everything above them from collapsing in.

Wei Yi glanced back at Jian Hongchao, concerned that she might be akin to Yi Bai in that she wouldn’t escape unless explicitly provided with the instruction to do so, but that turned out to be an unnecessary concern when her figure disappeared through the Past’s Call. As the sixth realm cultivator wasn’t obviously escaping at that moment, since he seemed to still remain beneath the bubble of blood and wouldn’t have the chance to flee from the collapsing rubble, she leapt back up into the gap she formed within the ceiling and repeatedly used the World’s Echo to pierce the floors between her and the surface.

Just as she passed through the roof of the structure and stabilised herself atop a physique energy platform, the entire building collapsed, with the centre falling in first while the rest fell atop it.

The echoing sounds of the collapse spread out throughout the portion of the district, bringing the attention of everyone around to the commotion, especially those that had run out of the structure to investigate whatever had been going on outside.

As they saw the collapsing building, they also saw the figure standing above it all, with Wei Yi’s crimson hair flowing freely in the air as the ponytail had somehow come undone during the fight. She checked her back quickly with spiritual perception and confirmed that there were traces of an ash-like substance on her hair where the ponytail had been tied using the spare strand of hair that she had kept on her for quite some time.

‘So, it seems that physical matter can also be scattered, so there must be a way for Jian Hongchao to decide what part of an object is separated from it… not that I know what she removed from my strand of hair. Was it the same physique energy that she was targeting, causing the stability that my hair had achieved to fall apart and suddenly dissolve and scatter like it did here?’ she guessed, although she was not sure of exactly when it fell apart and thus couldn’t be certain if it was the last usage of the Purifier’s Seal that had affected her due to her proximity to the banner, or if one of the previous ones had done that to her and it simply didn’t occur to her until now.

Regardless, she wasn’t in a hurry to resolve that matter, even if it was slightly distracting, as she needed to deal with the fact that she now had the attention of the opposing faction.

They only needed a moment to tell her apart from Jian Hongchao, who had far shorter and less vibrant hair, not to mention that her outfit was entirely different from the one worn by the otherworldly demon. Even with the usage of all of her available stealth methods, she wouldn’t have been able to remove the attention that was naturally directed towards someone that had caused so much damage.

In a way, that, too, was a law – but that’s beside the point.

“Get her! She’s destroying our district!” one of the women, a fifth realm cultivator that had been inside of the old building, called out, pointing at her while her other hand reached into her pocket and pulled out a talisman.

“Uh… In that case…” Wei Yi muttered to herself, activating the Lion’s Roar technique and physique as she shouted, “People of the Luo District, the Blood-tinged Church have invaded your lands! They seek to influence the course of your development by forcing Luo Yunzhen into the position of Patriarch! They wish to experiment upon you and draw out your blood for the sake of their own rituals, and Luo Yunzhen is complicit in this!”

The previous figure may have been loud for someone shouting, but the Ascendant’s voice completely overpowered it, rapidly spreading out throughout the district and nearly deafening some.

However, that inconvenience for some only guaranteed that her voice and message was heard. The things she spoke of, be that the Blood-tinged Church or their actions, weren’t well known to the people of the Luo District, since the organisation and their practises were essentially legends no matter where one looked, to the point that she was only able to call out what little she had learned from Long Huang. For that reason, she avoided getting into any kind of detail, since that would only make it easier for Luo Yunzhen or anyone from his side to expose her lies.

It wasn’t necessary for her to be absolutely correct on this, as it was only the risk itself that mattered. There were people that were blatantly not from the Luo District that somehow had multiple sets of meridians and practised bloodline power cultivation, with this including the otherworldly demon, and so the most obvious guess was the Blood-tinged Church.

Even if they turned out to have nothing to do with this, that could easily be overlooked by her side, and the people of the Luo District, so long as the basic intentions that she had assigned to them weren’t easily overturned or disproven, and she believed that she was in the clear in that regard.

They were clearly seeking something relating to blood from the artefacts that they were gathering, and they weren’t averse to making use of blood, so nobody would look at them and think them to be a reasonable group. It was also a good reason to remind her own people to not practise anything that made them look overtly harmful to those around them, whether it was something demonic or overly focused on blood, since the world had the tendency to judge by appearances.

“W-What? How could she-” one of the people staring up at her with an offensive technique prepared stuttered.

In the air, the Ascendant couldn’t help but smirk slightly, as that response alone was more than enough. Whether it was in shock at her proclamation due to the absurdity of it, or because she had accidentally gotten it exactly right, it was the perfect reaction to make it seem like the latter was closer to the truth. It was seen by a few people that had rushed in to examine the scene, some being common citizens while others were guards that had been patrolling the area, and all of them were able to see the reaction due to some light manipulation of Law.

That was all that needed to begin rumours, and rumours grew to become facts in the minds of some after a while. It was all that was needed to excuse her behaviour, especially since she had hardly damaged anything of note to the common people, whereas the draining and experimentation with their blood was far more notable.

“What is happening here?” a voice overpowered the crumbling of the building and appeared in the air between her and the people on the ground, “Everyone, calm your energy!”

Wei Yi hadn’t been preparing to fight to begin with, but the others were forced to lower and put away their talismans and weapons, staring with some degree of caution and anger at the Ascendant. They would have likely attempted to strike at her nonetheless if the man that appeared wasn’t in the sixth realm, with his vibrant flame-like planar energy creating a dense barrier that wouldn’t be penetrated by only the energy of the fifth realm – in normal cases, at least.

“How do I address you?” Wei Yi asked.

“I am Luo Ling Zan, guardian of the Luo District. As you appear to be the instigator, I can-”

“If you wish for me to testify about the situation, then I would like to do so before all of the guardians of the Luo District. The matters of the Blood-tinged Church,” Wei Yi said, intentionally raising her volume at that point as to prevent anyone from possibly missing out on her words, “are sufficiently concerning in my opinion to be heard by everyone that may have a chance of doing something about it. In fact, if your district has access to a method that can verify my words, I would gladly undergo it for the district’s safety.”

“Wait, she is-”

The guardian appeared to have no interest in it, not even bothering to turn to him as he said, “We will talk to you in time. For now, remain quiet and do not disturb us! So, how should you be addressed?”

“Wei Yi, Ascendant, leader of the Ascendant’s Arbiters. You might have heard of me.”

“We have. Come with me, and I shall bring you to a place where you will not be disturbed,” Luo Ling Zan stated, finally turning to the others then, “You will come along as well. There is a large quantity of suspicious items in that ruin, and some of you look to be from outside of the district. Tell me, why is there such a large number of individuals from the Huang District here?”

He pointed at all of the people that did not wear the robes of the Luo family, and that had been hiding inside of the house. Their features lacked a single unifying factor, with some resembling the Luo family’s people quite a bit, but they did possess at least one blatantly inhuman feature each, making it clear that there was Huang blood within them. Out of all of the families in Yi City, while there were some with odd features, like the Bao family often having hair that looked like gems or jewels and that tended to glisten like them in the sun, the Huang had the most unusual appearances due to the presence of bestial claws, horns, teeth, eyes and far, far more spread out amongst them.

There was no certain answer as to where they had gained such features from, although there was certainly plenty of speculation. The guesses that would be most popular now, as a result of the current situation, would undoubtedly be that the Huang District was a lair for the Blood-tinged Church and their rampant human experimentation, resulting in all of the children of that district coming out with some abnormality, typically a physical one.

“The Luo District permits entry to combatants and merchants. We are amongst their number!” one of the Huang family members proclaimed, with his peers nodding alongside him hurriedly.

“Is that so? The artefacts that you have left behind in the rubble suggest that even if your words are to be taken seriously, you must have been participating in some darker deeds alongside your trade. With so many artefacts robbed of their power, and the blood essence of the Luo contained within, you must have been intending to make a great deal from selling it,” Luo Ling Zan suggested, his eyes narrowing, “However, is that really all you intend? Although I may not need to voice this, I shall still do so – the people of the district believe that you have come at behalf of some vile organisation! For this reason, all of you shall be detained until further notice!”

With a single word, countless guards of the Luo family emerged, surrounding the people that had been forced out of the collapsed structure, with all of them glancing at the most powerful members remaining in search of guidance.

Ultimately, they decided that it wouldn’t be worthwhile to get into conflict right now, and so they agreed that it would be best to submit for now and see where that would take them. Both Wei Yi and the newly arrived guardian were aware that this was likely not the end of their plans, and that there would be attempts to escape through one mean or another, so they were restrained and taken to some Luo District prison.

Once they were out of earshot, the guardian turned to Wei Yi and said, “While I do not disapprove of your intentions, or what you claim to be your intentions, we will still need to question you.”

“No, that makes sense. I will cooperate on that, as I have said already.”

“That you have… Since you are here, you are bound to know that the situation here is rather imperfect. There is some struggle between two sides, and whoever brings in deplorable figures like the Huang District’s scavengers of blood is immediately worsened in my eyes… Not that I wish to endorse a conflict,” Luo Ling Zan quickly stated, “No, the less conflict occurs, the better for our Luo District.”

“Do you not mind the involvement of an outside faction like my Arbiters? I’d imagine that the Greats haven’t been giving us a good name, if they’ve released any information they claim is legitimate at all.”

“There is a difference between a group attempting to fight for freedom from a faction that you describe as tyrannical and someone focused purely on stealing our district’s items. They have likely raided some of our ancient tombs in their search and pursuit, so they simply cannot be forgiven, regardless of which faction they wish to side with or who had recruited them,” the guardian affirmed, shaking his head as he looked towards the people being escorted away, nearly spitting at them before he realised that this would be unsuitable for his position.

His words reminded her of the round object that she had acquired from the strange, small tomb within the ground, exposed by only a small crack in the terrain. Since that had likely contained the blood essence he had referenced, she had considered taking it out and showing it to him, but she was aware that it was better not to do so yet.

From her understanding of the situation, she would be able to speak with all of the guardians of the Luo District and have the opportunity to provide all of the information that she wanted to show them shortly. At that point, she wouldn’t need to risk him obtaining that evidence and either tampering with it, or preparing some kind of explanation to use for himself if he didn’t want her to be able to convince the guardians to side with Luo Na, or against the Greats. If she did show it to him and he broke the round object apart before anyone else had the chance to see it, that would just be inconvenient at best, if this matter wasn’t too significant for her and the guardians.

In the case that it was somehow vital, perhaps being the best basis against Luo Yunzhen’s faction, that would obviously be significantly worse of an outcome.

“I have some knowledge about that, by the way, but I will share that when the time comes. I believe that everyone in the Luo District would like to hear about the defilement of their ancestral property, right?” she said.

“Yes, of course! I shall await this information eagerly,” the guardian confirmed, “On that, we should go to the stronghold of the guardians, as we sometimes like to refer to it as. In truth, it is simply a residence filled with a suitable environment for cultivation, training, and, in general, a perfect place to conduct an investigation into the current events. We would call the Patriarch to observe, but he is… busy, at the moment.”

‘I’ve heard about that. Judging from his behaviour so far, it does seem that he is neutral, whereas that Luo Huang would be closer to favouring my and Luo Na’s side… I don’t know how many more of the guardians are out there, but I hope that most of them are neutral at the least. If the majority is in favour of Luo Yunzhen, or the Greats, and have simply not announced it yet, that could cause problems.’

The guardians weren’t the strongest force in the district, since that would be the Patriarch, but they were easily the most significant in the current situation as they were likely to all be in the sixth realm and thus had the most power to influence the outcome of the conflict. If they decided to side with one side over the other, then the power of even two in the sixth realm would make it far easier for that force to win over the other due to the combination of their realm and their influence within the Luo District.

For that reason, it would obviously be ideal if most of them were currently neutral, since that would mean that convincing them would be that much easier, whereas a group that had already made up their mind would be more difficult to persuade regardless of their view. Even if there were some that favoured Luo Yunzhen, so long as the majority had no particular preference for him, she believed that she had a good chance to win them over.

After all, Luo Ling Zan had expressed his distaste over the potential looting of ancient tombs for the blood of the Luo family, but if the others had already decided to side with the Greats and Luo Yunzhen regardless of the cost, then a single voice in opposition wouldn’t do much.

Even if all of them were to leap into action and enforce their allegiance, then one or two against, for instance, five on the opposing side would mean that so long as the stronger foes stand by and prevent those on her side from acting, the rest of the guardians on Luo Yunzhen’s side could do as they like and there would be none that could stop them, save for the few unaffiliated people in the sixth realm.

So, Wei Yi paid close attention to the actions of the guardian, as well as where he was bringing her, since she needed to watch out for any idea of which figure supported who, and why they did so. When one understood the reasoning behind someone’s decision, it was naturally far easier to convince them either to stay away from conflict, or to switch sides, so with sufficient information, it was feasible to turn the situation around in her favour. Those that were siding with Luo Yunzhen or the Great Families for a reason unrelated to their goals, like if they believe that the Greats would simply make a safer, more stable world, would be far easier to convince than those that had some kind of attachment to the Greats themselves.

He took her to the central portion of the district, to a large tower that stood high above the rest with a flat portion on top from which the district could easily be observed with strong enough vision. It was made from stone bricks, with thin channels carved into it for the purpose of either directing energy or water during rain, since having it randomly splash onto everyone below would hardly be too pleasant for the people of the district.

There was a large double door at the front, sealed with an inscription that could be activated with the energy of the guardians. Since stealing or replicating talismans to bypass a defensive structure made with them in mind was possible, even the Luo District decided that it would be better for security to have something that required a very specific energy rather than a particular effect from a talisman, like most of the locks and defensive systems that existed within the district. That wasn’t to say that it would be impossible to bypass with the right technique, but it was slightly more secure.

“Come inside, and don’t let the door close on you. It is infused with fifth realm energy.”

The guardian opened it for her and stepped through first, with the doors swinging open on their own through the infusion of energy. After a short while, they began to close again, so it was vital to step through before they shut if one didn’t want to reopen them again.

Obviously, Wei Yi wouldn’t hesitate, so she stepped inside and found five other figures already there.